


New Worlds

by andamiro (arysthaeniru)



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 04:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3636711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/pseuds/andamiro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This venture could kill them, or bring them to new heights of knowledge. Personally, Saeki is hoping for the latter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Worlds

**Author's Note:**

> Art/Fic exchange with tumblr's ryoukisarazu! I don't particularly ship SaeRyou, but writing new pairings is always interesting.

There was a loud shriek, and Aoi grinned happily. “A mermaid! I definitely saw a mermaid! Come and seeeeee!” Some of the more gullible members of the crew rushed over to look, but the veterans just chuckled, knowing about the illusions that often came from the water here. Kisarazu Ryou, however, rolled his eyes and groaned, with tired exasperation. “Who decided it was a good idea to make him the leader of our expedition group?”

"You know, it could be worse." replied Saeki, as he leant down over the railings to make sure that there really was nothing there. The water was ice cold but clear, all the way down to the seafloor and it was the most beautiful and terrifying thing that Saeki had ever seen. Well, second-most beautiful and terrifying thing, the honour of first place went to the grumpy man at his side. "We could have been on Tooyama Kintarou’s ship. Shiraishi made him captain to give him experience."

"Don’t even joke about that." muttered Ryou, darkly, as he adjusted the thick scarf around his neck and shivered a little. It was probably from disgust about thinking about being on the same ship as the excitable and loud Tooyama Kintarou, but it may have also have been from the cold. This was the furthest North that Saeki and Ryou had ever been in their lives and the chill crept in everywhere.

They had travelled past the farthest provinces of the China lands, past the Russian controlled Siberia and Manchuria, and had swept up, past vast sheets of endless ice, coming closer and closer to the end of the world, where rumour had sprung up of a gate to another world. Of course, the Emperor had been fascinated by any sort of thoughts of another world, and had sent his best explorers to go and see the brave new world.

And now, they were finally drawing close to their destination, after almost a month and a half of travel. Saeki turned around as a rustle came up behind him, and his squirrel daemon leaped and bounded up into the hood of his parka, chattering with cold. Saeki laughed and adjusted his scarf, to make room for Myrcella, the other half of his soul. “You can see this huge light from the top of the crow’s nest. There’s definitely something weird at the pole.” she reported, as her tail swung around Saeki’s neck in protective warmth.

"Are we far from it?" asked Ryou, boredly, as he tilted back, and let a few strands of his long hair escape the thick parka he wore.

"We’ll be there soon." said Myrcella, as she burrowed down Saeki’s shirt, without warning. Saeki scrunched up his nose and laughed at the ticklish sensation. Sometimes, his daemon was very playful, unlike her usual role as his voice of sense. It was unlike Ryou’s porcupine daemon, Marcus, who curled up sleepily on his shoulder on most days, as a constant voice of snark and sass.

Saeki smiled as he gazed out into the distance. What a huge adventure lay ahead of them. he wondered what a new world would be like? Would it be warmer? He certainly hoped so. What made a world different, anyway? So many of their philosophers had spent a lot of time hypothesizing what made human existence special and why they were better than other animals. Most people had come to the conclusion that having split souls, in a tangible form like a daemon, was the key, but of course, there were other animals that engaged in symbiotic relationships that weren’t up to the level of human ingenuity or creation.

"What do you think we’ll find there, Ryou?" he asked, idly, a question that had been brought up several times over the course of their journey, a gloved hand rising up to grab one of Ryou’s flyaway strands and tuck it behind Ryou’s ear. The discussions had usually been during evening meals, as they had fought over Aoi’s excited voice and Fudomine’s second-in-command, the ever-excitable Kamio, with increasingly outlandish ideas and tales.

"Who knows? When this gate’s been made with the blood of children, I’m not exactly sure what we’ll see is something good." said Ryou, grimly and Saeki frowned.

"That was just a rumour, Ryou." he said, quietly.

"Not so." disputed a voice from behind Saeki and was Saeki not used to this after a long voyage with her, he might have jumped. He turned around to raise an eyebrow at Tachibana An, the captain’s younger sister and avid explorer in her own right. She just grinned, knowing how much it scared Saeki, before her face grew a little more serious. "Kippei-nii was talking about it with Yukimura-san and Tezuka-san before we left. They’re all fairly certain that the english Lord Asriel made good on his word to the Magisterium, and used their abominable technology to create the way across worlds by killing a child."

Ryou’s jaw tightened and Saeki looked away. The water looked a little more clouded now, as if stained with the blood of children. Being a (now former) teacher himself, and growing up around one of the largest community of children in Japan, he could never even think about killing a child. He didn’t understand how this Lord Asriel could function, if he could so callously sacrifice a child for something so uncertain.

"Nevertheless, we make good on the opportunity we have been afforded. Ruthless men and women have paved our world." said An, as her gaze looked out towards the horizon, and the blinding light which had just become visible, as they pushed past the large iceberg that had blocked their view.

"Is it worth it?" asked Myrcella, quietly, speaking for Saeki and his momentary shock.

"I suppose we have to make it worth it." said Ryou, his hands coming up to grasp Saeki’s in a rare show of affection. Saeki squeezed his hand back and moved a little closer to Ryou’s side. Suddenly, it felt a lot colder. "An hour left until we enter the portal, right?" asked his lover, as he adjusted his scarf again.

"Mmmhmm." said An, clearly happy to move on. "The Rikkai-Higa went first, at dawn, Then Seigaku-Hyotei, then the Shitenhouji-Yamabuki. We’re the last ship, and we’ll go in when the aurora starts. Actually! You guys should go and pack up if you haven’t already, since we’re not allowed to delay." she said, prodding Ryou’s shoulder.

Saeki nodded, easily. “Thanks Tachibana-chan.” he said, with a grin and she smiled at both of them, before skipping away. Saeki inclined his head and they four of them headed inside, shivering as they entered the ship’s enclosed area. Their room was a tiny stowaway cabin, but it was a little more private than some of the younger kids on this trip.

Saeki quickly gathered the most important things to his trip, all of the different types of clothes for all sorts of types of weather. Myrcella relaxed on his shoulder, happy to feel the heat. Some of the explorers, like Ryou, had stayed packed for the whole trip, only taking out what they needed to lay out (like his numerous hair products, which lined the walls of the cabin). But others like Saeki, had taken everything out, because they couldn’t bear to live out of a backpack or two for a whole two months.

As they quickly swept their things away into their packs in silence, Saeki mused that he would miss this small cabin. There were lots of memories on the ship, mostly of scrubbing too hard to clean the decks, cracking the ice that formed everywhere by any means possible, and having to stop It-chan’s questions from sending Fudomine into a murderous rampage, but there were the softer moments, where they all laughed together and where he and Ryou had spent the cold nights together.

And now, they were heading away from everything they knew, and they could never return. Saeki exhaled, with a trepidous smile. The future awaited. Ryou’s arms slipped around his waist, as he leant his chin against Saeki’s shoulderblades. “Your roots are showing.” he murmured into Saeki’s ear.

"Mmm, I know." said Saeki, leaning back against his lover.

"You should redye them no—" he broke off as he glanced at Saeki’s stuff, strewn everywhere. "You didn’t bring any hairdye." he said, sounding surprised.

Saeki chuckled. He wasn’t surprised that it had taken Ryou this long to notice, considering he had brought around ten different hair care products with him and until now, they had completely lined the walls. “Who knows what world we’ll be entering? There could be a drought and water might be a commodity. Dyeing is a vanity thing, anyway. I don’t need to do it.”

Ryou’s lips pursed together against Saeki’s skin and Saeki smirked, mischievously. “Besides, you know, my grey hairs will soon overtake where the dye used to be, you know.”

"Oh shut up, Kojirou, you’re not even thirty. Even if Aoi, Davide and It-chan are trials, they’re still not enough to drive you to premature greying. If they haven’t made me old yet, you’re safe." grumbled Ryou and Saeki laughed, contentedly.

Still, Ryou didn’t let go of his grip around Saeki and while Saeki wasn’t complaining, it was unusually clingy for his lover. “Everything alright, Ryou?” he asked, with a concerned murmur.

"This could be the last time I get to do this." Ryou said, grimly and Saeki felt a slight frown come to his face.

"Don’t say that. We’re going into the portal together." he said, admonishingly, and he twisted in Ryou’s grip, until he had wrapped his arms around the shorter man. Ryou buried his face in Saeki’s shoulder and Myrcella’s tail, while Saeki settled his hands on the small of Ryou’s back, as Marcus peeked out of the hood of Ryou’s parka.

"You know why all of the ships are going towards the gate at different times, right? They propose that as time passes, the gate changes to a different world, therefore all of the ships will be heading to different worlds." Marcus piped up, where Ryou seemed unwilling to speak anymore. "Well, there was another theory. That with every particle that enters the gate, the gate changes. It could send every single one of our molecules to a different universe. There are certainly enough universes to spare, but that would kill us."

Saeki’s eyes darkened and Myrcella’s tail bristled up in anger. “They’re wrong.” said Saeki, fiercely. “And even if they aren’t, every single molecule of Myrcella and every single molecule of me will search through all of existence, searching for your molecules and Marcus’ molecules, until we’re together again.”

Ryou pulled away from Saeki’s shoulder, with an incredulous look. “And how will you find us, huh?”

"Because with every molecule of you I find, it will feel more and more like I’m safe, since you are the only home I need~" Saeki trilled, as he rubbed his nose against Ryou’s nose. Ryou coloured rapidly and he flicked Saeki’s forehead, as he turned his head away in embarrassment.

"Idiot." he said, but there was no heat to his voice.

Saeki shut his eyes and he rocked them around the small cabin, a little, feeling Ryou’s warmth against his. “I mean it. I’ll find you, no matter what, even if we get lost, even if we get separated. If we die on this, we’ll die together, alright?”

Ryou’s brown eyes looked up to meet Saeki’s blue ones and he nodded, resoundingly, as he reached up to kiss Saeki. Saeki brushed back some of Ryou’s hair, gently tucking it behind Ryou’s ear, pressing back with as much affection as he could place into it. With so much uncertainty ahead of them, at least they could both be sure about this.

One kiss turned to three, turned to ten, and would have turned into more, had the ship not suddenly lurched, pulling them apart, as they both clutched for a solid wall. “Ship’s hitting the shallow ice.” said Ryou, breathlessly, his lips swollen. Saeki nodded, as he struggled to get his own breathing under control. “Get packed, quickly. We have to walk the rest of it, most likely.”

Saeki threw the last of his stuff into his pack, pushing it down as securely as he could, before he and Ryou attached the packs to each other firmly and securely, pulling and checking on all of the straps. If they lost even one part of their supplies, it could mean death. “Ready?” asked Ryou, his face serious and distant.

"Ready." supplied Saeki, with the sunniest grin he could muster. Ryou couldn’t help but smile in response to that, and Saeki’s eyes crinkled, with affection. He held out a gloved hand to Ryou. "Let’s go on an adventure~" he said, and Ryou took his hand, with a fondly exasperated look.


End file.
